Never Gonna Let You Down
by Ramblepedia
Summary: Burt just wants to know one thing: Why did Kurt wait so long to tell him? (Early season 1.)


Originally posted under the same title on Archive of Our Own (AO3)

There were many things that Burt Hummel never expected to happen in his life. When he'd been in elementary school he would never have expected to own a car shop. In high school there were times he hadn't expected to graduate. Some days he was still amazed that he was a father. How had that even happened? Well the literal how was obvious. One night of joy and now fifteen years and some months later he was definitely a dad.

Sometimes he felt like he couldn't count the early years. His wife had done most of the work and while he distinctly remembered five year old Kurt proudly telling his entire class on parent-teacher night that he was going to be 'just like daddy, except the ugly uniforms' when he grew up, well, Burt wasn't sure he really had understood what it meant to be a parent until a few months into his son's sophomore year. It had been rough, that night, but he was glad it was all out in the open. No more secrets. Kurt was gay. That was another thing he had never expected to have in his life. A gay son. Who would believe that?

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall at his shop. Kurt was helping out that afternoon since he'd quit the football team and since it wasn't a glee night he hadn't particularly been interested in hanging around the school. Apparently the football team wasn't pleased that he'd quit. That was an interesting look at things. They didn't seem too keen on having a scrawny gay kid on their team but they were even more upset when he left. Well, Kurt was the reason they'd won their only game all season. Burt knew how superstitious sports kids could get, even subconsciously. He remembered his buddy on the baseball team insisted that the bat had to hit the plate three times before he was ready. Not to mention all the talk about wearing lucky underwear. Maybe Kurt had become their good luck charm. He had brought them together in an unusual sort of way.

Kurt was all around just unusual. Which, honestly, made him even more impressive. Burt felt a smile crack on his face. He'd actually done a good job raising this kid.

There was just one thing that had been nagging him though.

Every year Kurt had always done everything he could to make father's day special. When he was five the kid (with the help of his mother of course, though she said it was all his idea) had gotten a bunch of t-shirts and 'designed something nice for the guys at the shop to wear.' So Burt wouldn't have to look at these eyesore uniforms. The something nice had been extremely glittery and dangerous to wear around cars but Burt had humored his child and worn it out to work at least once a week for a long while. Even if he had changed once he'd gotten there. He knew Kurt had been disappointed to find that out but they'd gotten past that just fine. Kurt never said he wanted to own the shop again though. That was about when he'd started chasing his broadway dreams and outside of the Uptown Girl music video there wasn't a whole lot a car shop could do to help anyone become a star.

The thing that nagged him was that this whole thing had clearly been weighing on Kurt for a while. And Kurt had said nothing. Despite having a full blow out bash for the two of them last Father's Day. And the one before that. Not to mention Burt's birthdays. Every chance Kurt could get it seemed the kid was reminding Burt what a great dad he was. He didn't feel like a great dad though. Not until just recently. After his kid had confided his deepest secret (which, looking at him, really wasn't a secret) in him. Which had only happened because of that convoluted football scheme. Burt knew what that was for. Kurt hated football. He wasn't fooling anyone. He was only on that team at all to make his dad smile.

Were his smiles really so rare that his kid would go to those lengths to get one from him? Or was it even worse, more like what Burt feared after a quick glance around on the internet. Had Kurt heard all those stories about dads like himself kicking their kids out. There had been one about a thirteen year old whose parents had thrown them out. Another one about someone Kurt's age that had just happened the year before. His parents, upon finding out he was gay, had freaked out and tried to beat him up. Or at least, that was what Burt understood from the story. That kid had barricaded himself in his room until they'd gone to bed before running away and never going back. Burt felt really lucky Kurt had never run away. Even if he'd been afraid of what would happen he'd stuck around. And he'd kept saying 'my dad is the greatest.' At least to Burt's face. Who knew what teenagers said at school. It couldn't be all nice. He loved his own parents and he knew he'd complained and groaned every time they grounded him. He'd acted like it was the end of the entire world. Which it wasn't. He understood that plenty now.

"Hey dad!" he heard before his boy turned around. There was a frustrated look on his face. Well, cars weren't exactly his thing.

"What's up?" He crossed the room and rested both hands on the car to peer in.

"Ok, so this is the oil, I know that much. I've got that. Which one is the transmission fluid again?" They'd gone over this at least six times just in the last couple of weeks. Every time Kurt encountered a new car type they seemed to need to go over it again.

"Well, which one do you think it is?" Kurt crossed his arms and glanced at his options. Then he pointed at one. "Right. See? You know what you're doing."

"You say that, but you really don't want me mixing up the brake fluid and the coolant." Burt felt the smile return as he patted his son's shoulder.

"You could help out in the office if you'd like that better you know."

"You said you needed a hand out here." The shoulder shrugged up quickly.

"I know. Thank you. Maybe I'll switch you and Rudy out and have you rotate that car's tires though. How's that sound?" Kurt rested his hands on his hips a moment before nodding. "Hey Rudy, why don't you let Kurt do that and you finish up this car, yeah?" The burly employee nodded. It was clear why he was over handling the tires. He could probably bench press all four of them and not break a sweat. Burt trailed after his son as the two swapped places, leaning over to check that car and make sure it didn't need any other work besides its tune up. It was a good enough rouse to stay close in case Kurt needed help. Mentally he seemed to be the strongest kid Burt had ever met. Physically? Not so much.

Though he was clever. When it was too much work to turn the bolts Kurt hopped up on the monkey wrench and used his weight to get them off. He was looking a lot stronger now than he had over the first month or so of this school year. He had never looked smaller than the days leading up to and the night after the game.

"After you get that done I think we can head home for dinner. These are the last two cars of the night and this one's basically done. Rudy's closed up shop before." Rudy was actually Burt's best best heir to the work around here. Though of course the shop itself was in his will as going to Kurt to do with as he wanted. Whatever he saw fit. Burt just hoped it didn't turn into a sparkling rainbow shop of people singing while they worked on cars. Or worse - something that had nothing to do with cars at all.

He suspected Kurt would probably just let things go on as normal here while he was off being a success in New York. That day was decades away though. Tonight it was just Burt and his fifteen year old son.

Again at home Burt crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. The kitchen wall this time. He just wanted to observe his son. Now the kid needed no guidance. He looked right at home cooking dinner for the two of them. Something fancy with a French name. Though it probably wouldn't be like real French cuisine. It'd be better, of course. Burt had to think that. He was sure it'd be just fine.

They needed to talk though. Kurt had opened up to him, it was only fair that Burt make this an ongoing thing. He hadn't done a good job these last several years but he wanted Kurt to know they had an open forum between them. They could fully trust each other and talk about everything. Kurt needed to understand that.

"So ah, how has school been?"

"Huh? School?" Kurt shrugged and spun around to check on something that was starting to boil. "Same as always. Those classes aren't very challenging."

"What about the kids? The club of yours? You know. How are things going." He tensed up at the look that earned him. Burt didn't blame Kurt though. There were few things more annoying than parents trying to pry into their kid's social lives.

"Glee club's great. Tina, Mercedes and I are going out tomorrow to get ideas for our Sectional costumes." Ok. That was safe enough. Burt felt a question at the back of his head about what Kurt faced bully wise. He knew a few things. He remembered Kurt coming home drenched in some sticky substance that was apparently someone's drink. That they'd decided was more worth their money on Kurt's face. He was starting to understand why his kid seemed to keep a change of clothes nearby at all times. They definitely needed to talk about the bullying issue. But Burt was looking for a way to talk about something else tonight. "Uhm." Kurt tapped his foot on the ground as he tried to think of something else to say.

Burt moved over to peer at the food. "Smells great."

"Thanks." They stood there silently for a while before Kurt got fidgety. "It won't be ready for another ten minutes."

"Ah." Burt turned to set the table and get them some drinks. A nice cold beer for himself and some tea for his son. "So." The silence hung in the air.

"Dad." Burt took a deep breath.

"Yeah?"

"Are you...uhm, are you upset?" Kurt was slow to glance over and his eyes were flighty when they did.

"No." So Kurt had noticed he was acting a bit oddly. The teen leaned up against the counter and kept his eyes trained on his feet for a few moments.

"You're sure?"

"Kurt." His son looked up at him. "I'm not upset."

"Ok." They watched each other, each looking ready to burst with a million questions.

"You know I love you, right? And how proud I am of you?" He watched his son's head nod but he could see a bit of fear on that face. "Ok." He took in a deep breath. This wasn't going to be comfortable for either of them. "I've just, these last few weeks, I've just been thinking." The fear turned to an almost 'oh please no' expression. Burt hoped Kurt was making it a lot worse in his head. That way when they got to talking that would be the easy part. "I've been wondering why you didn't talk to me sooner."

"Sooner?"

"Yeah. I mean clearly you've known for a while. And I know I said I knew because lets face it it's kind of obvious. But you didn't know that. And I couldn't be sure of anything you didn't tell me." He wrapped his hands around the back of a chair. "I just want you to know that you can trust me, ok? I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You're my son. You're a great son, and a great kid. And you're going to be a great man too. You can talk to me about anything you need to. I'll be here for you." They'd already talked about what being gay meant. Burt wasn't comfortable with it, not really, but he'd learn how to be. And it certainly didn't make his son any less wonderful. It was just different from what he was used to. That was all.

"I know. I know that." Kurt started to step towards him but the food let out a sizzle. They would hug it out later. After the dinner was safe from burning.

"I just need to know why, so I can do better for you, ok?" When Kurt turned to bring the food to the table there were definitely tears sparkling on his cheeks. Burt knew what the world expected of a man like himself at first glance. Abusive, drunk all the time, the kind who would kick Kurt to the curb without a second thought. Maybe that was who he would have been if he hadn't graduated from high school. If he hadn't met Kurt's mom. If he hadn't been Kurt's father. He'd certainly thrown around a few insults and picked on a few kids. Burt resolved to try to find them and apologize. He was a wiser person now. "Kurt, I need you to talk to me."

The teen settled down heavily in his seat. "I." He took in a deep breath.

"It's ok. I promise you can't say anything worse than what I read on the internet." That got a little snort out of the kid. Kurt would probably know better than his dad what could be found out there. How many websites had he stumbled on flat out encouraging him to disown his son? He was just worried Kurt had seen the same ones. There was another long pause hanging over them.

"I didn't want to let you down." That was a bit unexpected. Burt reached out to rub Kurt's shoulder in an attempt to encourage more words out of him in a manner not unlike when his son was a baby that needed burping. "I just want to make you proud dad."

"You do. Just the way you are. And I am so, so sorry Kurt."

"Sorry!"

"Yeah. That I made you think you had to keep things from me. I'll always be proud of you." Ok. Now was hugging time. Burt wrapped his son up tight in his arms.

"The food's gonna get cold," the teen mumbled. Burt held him a little tighter. He could tell Kurt wasn't ready to stop hugging. He'd learned his lesson back on the first day of preschool. When Kurt wasn't ready to let go he wasn't going to let go. He kind of missed his koala son, just a little bit.

"We have a microwave."


End file.
